Outstanding Women Honored at Brooklyn Power Women’s Networking Breakfast

On Friday, March 18, Borough President Marty Markowitz, Deputy Borough President Yvonne Graham and Council Member Tracy Boyland, Chair of the Council’s Women’s Issues Committee, unveiled the first portrait of a woman ever to be permanently installed on the walls of Borough Hall. “Last month, we unveiled the first portrait of an African-American, Justice Oliver D. Williams, to be permanently displayed in Borough Hall’s historic courtroom,” said Borough President Markowitz. “It was the first new portrait in this building since the end of the 19th Century — and it was long overdue. Equally overdue is the presence of the first portrait of a woman in this courtroom — a situation I’m proud to rectify today.”

Brooklyn artist Hipólito López Torres created the portrait of Brooklyn’s first female State Supreme Court Justice, Honorable Beatrice M. Judge (1895-1998). The Brooklyn Women’s Bar Association commissioned the painting and the Brooklyn Bar Association provided the frame. “Justice Beatrice M. Judge represented the very best of Brooklyn,” said Markowitz. “Justice Judge was a trailblazer in the legal profession, becoming the first woman elected to Brooklyn’s civil court in 1965, and becoming the first woman to sit on the State Supreme Court in Brooklyn in 1967. And, she lived to be 102 years old — proof that the good life is right here in Brooklyn.”

Outstanding Brooklyn women of today were also honored. “As proud home to everyone from everywhere, Brooklyn is a city that thrives on its unrivaled diversity, but we are, in fact, home to one majority — and that’s women,” said Markowitz. “I am proud to join Deputy Borough President Yvonne Graham and Council Member Tracy Boyland as we recognize seven Brooklyn women who are making Brooklyn herstory today.

The honorees were:

Lucy Burns Activist Award to Faryce Moore, V.P. of Grievances and Legal Services for the
Social Services Employees Union Local 371
Shirley Chisholm Leadership Award to Honorable Sylvia Hinds-Radix, New York State
Supreme Court Justice, Kings County
Dr. Susan Smith McKinney Humanitarian Award to Lois Blades-Rosado, Ed.D.,
Dean/Executive Director of the State University of New York/Brooklyn Educational
Opportunity Center
Lady Deborah Moody Founders Award to Jeanne Lutfy, President BAM Local Development
Corporation
Emily Roebling Business Women’s Award to Judith D. Zuk, President & CEO, Brooklyn
Botanic Garden
Lucille Mason Rose Community Activist Award to Dr. Marguerite Casanave Thompson,
early childhood education expert and founder of Weeksville Young Ambassadors exchange
program
Betty Smith Arts Award to Irina Roizin, founder of the Brighton Ballet Theater